My thoughts, my faith, my travels, my life.

Posts Tagged ‘legacy’

As I reflect on my dad’s birthday this week and how grateful I am to him for being such a huge influence in my life, I realize my life story begins, all thanks to my dad.

You see, my mother was sterile her whole life. She didn’t menstruate till it was surgically induced in her 20s and it only lasted a year. But when my dad met my mom, he fell in love with her at first sight and he knew then and there she would be the mother to his children. It was the late 70s and as you already know from a previous post my parents were seeing miracles, signs and wonders everywhere; so it seemed like nothing was impossible for God to perform and my dad was convinced my mom would be healed and get pregnant.

Why did my dad believe my mom would get pregnant? God helped his Faith in 3 specific ways: the prophetic, His Word, and a vision he had as a child.

1) My parents received many prophetic words of encouragement from people who knew about their situation and even complete strangers at healing services, prayer groups, bible studies or just people who would be praying at home and would hear from God to tell my mom and dad to not lose hope because she would soon be a mom. 2) Every time my mom and dad sat down to pray and read the Bible they would inevitably find themselves reading the story of Abraham and Sarah in Genesis. 3) My dad, as a child, had a vision where he saw that he was older and a father and was surrounded by his children. He likes to tell us he saw us just as we are when he was only a child. He held onto that vision as proof that that word would come to pass and God was certainly faithful by giving him 4 of us kids!

As children we were first introduced to God by my mom as “Papa Dios” or “Daddy God” and it really was very easy to believe in a Divine Father who loved us, who cared for us, who provided for us, who watched over us and who was a happy and fun Father who only wanted the best for us because we saw an earthly dad who did the same things each day. My dad was very affectionate with us, always present at our school on school trips and being a lunch dad who helped in the cafeteria and at recess. All the kids loved my dad.

My dad got us all the treats my mom wouldn’t let us have (seriously not good but wonderful at the same time). My dad was in the electro-mechanics field so when my mom, a teacher, asked him to put a lock on the TV, he installed a keyhole into the side of our TV that would open the circuit so that it was impossible to watch TV while they were out and he did it with one of those round tubular keys so that we wouldn’t be able to pick the lock. He was such a softie though, that every once in awhile he would tell us where he hid the key as long as my mom didn’t find out.

There was very little my siblings and I didn’t have or get to experience growing up in Astoria and while both my parents worked, most times my dad worked two jobs at the same time but he did it with a willing heart and he did it joyfully. I remember one time he worked for Dominos as his second job and even though we were sad we didn’t get to see him so much on weekends, we loved getting to experiment with him in our kitchen testing out new pizza combos. My brothers especially loved Dad’s pizza job!

One of my most precious memories happened in high school. My parents were very traditional in our upbringing and culturally if you’re under 15 as a Latina you are still considered a young girl so you can’t do things like shave your legs or wear make-up but it was NYC and not shaving your legs in 9th grade meant being made fun of. After one completely humiliating incident where a girl in my class told all the guys I didn’t shave, I came home in tears and was inconsolable. My dad lavished me with words of love and encouragement about how I was beautiful, loved, special, blessed and stronger than the hurt of that incident. And then, practical as ever, my dad took one of his yellow Bics and taught me to shave.

There are so many different aspects of my dad’s character and his gifting that I love about my dad! I really love his creativity and his artistic abilities. My dad hand-painted my baby clothes with scenes of Bambi, birds, butterflies, flowers. His mom was a seamstress so he and my mom used to make my sister and I beautiful dresses when we were growing up. Musically, he has a superb ear and could help us with our prep orchestra and marching band practice at home because he would always catch our wrong notes. But my favorite is his voice. I love it when my dad sings. I love the strength of his tenor and I love being able to pick his voice out in a choir because it’s the strongest voice. I remember as a child people at church used to tell me my dad sounded like Placido Domingo. I have always loved hearing him sing and even though my dad says we sing because his side of the family has always had singers, musicians and songwriters, I know that I sing because I learned to love singing when I sang with him.

My dad’s birthday was Tuesday and today I celebrate my dad by sharing with you a snapshot of the great man of Faith God gifted me with as a father. I hope it inspires you to look for the gold in your dad. To the girls, I hope it encourages you to hold out for a man of God. To the guys, I hope it gives you proof that being a beloved husband and dad is an achievable goal you can aspire to, if you hold fast to God’s help, always.

Kairos Moments: When you see that God’s word in Proverbs 20:7 is true. “The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him.” When you purpose to do the same with your life, thereby leaving a legacy of righteousness to the next generations.